APPLICATIONS OPEN TO ART KIBBUTZ'S TEAM AT THE DRAFTSMEN'S CONGRESS AT THE NEW MUSEUMYou are invited to participate in mini residency with Art Kibbutz, a collaborative project hosted by Venice Biennale artist Pawel Althamer, entitled the "Draftsmen's Congress" at the New Museum on March 23rd, 2014.

This residency involves making of one large collaborative drawing that will take up the entire fourth floor space of the museum. We are calling artists, art students, art professors, graphic designers, architects, cartoonists, engineers and other individuals who draw as part of their profession to participate in this project.

Art Kibbutz is one of the groups invited to participate in this project that will explore how a community could connect and create through shared interests, art and image-making. An interest or perhaps rather ambition of the Draftmen's Congress is to gather these visual expressions, that come from many different places, but all somehow have something in common, and then seem them together and experience them in a dialogue with each other, lets say a dialogue that then happens on purely visual terms, which is important. Art Kibbutz is invited to bring 'the Jewish perspective' whatever that means to each participating artist. We are planning to explore the Kabbalistic perspective and work with Hebrew letters, but open to any contribution at this point.

At the end of the Congress the work will be divided into manifold pieces and distributed to the public and the participants for free. Participating artists do not receive a commission, but materials will be available by the museum.ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONCurated by Massimiliano Gioni & Gary Carrion-Murayari

The first US museum exhibition of Althamer’s work will show on three floors of the New Museum. This exhibition will feature not only the artist’s most recent set of sculptures, the Venetians, but also an entire gallery that will accumulate drawings and paintings by patrons and coordinated community organizations, melding social practice with fine art. More

Since the early 1990s, Althamer (b. 1967 Warsaw, Poland) has established a unique artistic practice featuring an expanded approach to sculptural representation and consistently experimental models of social collaboration. Althamer is predominantly known for the figurative sculptures he creates of himself, his family, and various other individuals within his community. Beyond simple portraiture, these sculptures, in addition to the other activities he is involved in, highlight the complex social, political, and psychological networks in which he lives and operates.

The exhibition will include a new presentation of the artist’s work the Draftsmen’s Congress, originally presented at the 7th Berlin Biennale (2012). Over the course of the exhibition, the blank white space of the New Museum’s Fourth Floor gallery will be transformed through the gradual accumulation of drawings and paintings by Museum visitors and a wide array of invited community organizations. The exhibition will also feature a number of Althamer’s iconic sculptures and performative videos realized alone or in cooperation with a number of community groups that he has worked with over the past two decades. It will include his most recent body of work, the Venetians, a haunting group of sculptures created for the 55th Venice Biennale. Across these varied projects, the exhibition will comprise a portrait of the artist as instigator, organizer, teacher, scientist, and visionary.

The exhibition is curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions, and Gary Carrion-Murayari, Curator. The show will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring an interview with the artist and new writings on all aspects of his practice.

Paweł Althamer attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, from 1988–93, studying alongside his frequent collaborator Artur Zmijewski. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster (2003), Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw (2004), Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2005), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2006), Fondazione Nicola Trussardi (2007), and Secession, Vienna (2009), among others. His work has been exhibited in a number of major international group shows including the 2013 Venice Biennale, 8th Gwangju Biennial (2010), Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007), 4th Berlin Biennial (2006), and the 9th Istanbul Biennial (2005).

Art Kibbutz is a residency, community and hub for Jewish artists around the globe. Its mission is to foster and exchange arts conversations across cultures among artists of exceptional talent in an inspiring and peaceful space to work, learn and explore the rich heritage of Jewish experience that informs their creative process. More:www.artkibbutz.org

APPLICATIONApplication Deadline: January 15, 2014Application materials: 1. Your 1 page resume2. Names and contact information of 2 references3. Artwork: Include an image list indicating filename, title, dimensions, materials and dates of each work. The samples you submit are a critical part of your application. Because of the volume of material and limited time for the review panel, you are encouraged to prepare a well-organized presentation that exhibits your work in the best possible manner. Images: jpg, gif, png up to 2.5 MB each 4. Short letter explaining your interest in participating in this project and your concept / your availability on March 23rd, 2014.

Please do not contact the museum directly. While we will try to accommodate as many participants as possible, only selected applicants will be invited to participate in this project.